Download A Companion to Beowulf by Ruth A. Johnston PDF

By Ruth A. Johnston

Perhaps crucial paintings written in previous English, Beowulf grew out of a tradition very diversified from ours, and but its tale of battle, violence, and heroism continues to be suitable to trendy readers. available to highschool scholars, common readers, and undergraduates, this better half overviews the poem and its legacy. The preliminary chapters overview the plot of Beowulf , whereas later chapters talk about its type and language, its cultural and old contexts, and its afterlife in modern well known culture.

The first a part of the publication presents details of curiosity to a variety of readers, whereas the second one covers extra really expert issues. hence the preliminary chapters assessment the benefits of other translations and provide a close plot precis, whereas later chapters talk about the poem's language and elegance, its remedy of faith, its relation to Anglo-Saxon tradition, and its legacy in pop culture. one of many maximum Beowulf students used to be J.R.R. Tolkien, and the ebook supplies particular awareness to his use of the poem in his personal fiction. highschool scholars, undergraduates, and basic readers will locate this e-book a worthwhile consultant to at least one of the main demanding but enduring works of English literature.

This ground-breaking and authoritative quantity is an critical reference ebook to accompany the learn of Virgil. it's a multi-authored consultant geared toward scholars and an individual with an curiosity in nice literature and the classical historical past. The chapters comprise crucial info whereas additionally delivering clean and unique insights into the poems and their writer.

Studies in Old English Literature in Honor of Arthur G. Brodeur. N e w York: Russell and Russell, 1963. Greenfield, Stanley B. and Daniel G. Calder. A New Critical History of Old English Literature. N e w York: N e w York University Press, 1986. Irving, Edward B. Jr. Introduction to Beowulf. , 1969. A Reading of Beowulf. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968. Rereading Beowulf. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. Kiernan, Kevin. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript.

The gods and giants were perpetually and fundamentally at war, though some stories played on this tension by depicting temporary alliances or even marriages between gods and friendly giants. In the end, however, the giants were fated to attack and destroy the gods. The last battle of the gods, "Ragnarok," ended in their defeat, but the gods never gave up, battling like true Germanic heroes. The Northern Germanic concept of the gods was not a particularly moral one. The gods and the giants do not seem, by our light, to be very different.

Like the "swan's-riding," this description evokes a positive image of the hero's communication. The hero answers, but at this stage of the poem he withholds his name. He repeats what we knew, that he is Hygelac's thane, but he adds the name of his father, Ecgtheow. He states that they are on a friendly mission and that he plans to give Hrothgar advice on how to rid himself of Grendel, if possible. If his advice does not work, then Hrothgar is doomed to endure his miserable situation forever. THE H E R O COMES TO DENMARK 37 Artist's conception of a warrior in full seventh-century armor.